Happy Holidays everyone! I hope it has been a wonderful Christmas / holiday / dividend season for all.
This was our first holiday season in the United States since we first hit the road back in 2012… 9 years ago?
It’s been… different.
For both Thanksgiving and Christmas we spent time with family.
We travelled to my home town for Thanksgiving, spending the day at my aunt & uncle’s house, a place I spent a lot of time as a kid. Grandma was able to meet her youngest great-grandchild and it was great to see everybody. On Saturday my brother cooked a turkey on the grill and fun was had by all.
It was a weird time to travel – The rental car I had booked for this trip back in June had dropped in price by 50%. All I had to do was cancel the old reservation and reserve a car with a different rental company. And thanks to the power of vaccines and masks we were all able to avoid any other unpleasantness.
Merry Christmas!
For Christmas my mom/sister/nephews came to visit. Winnie cooked an incredible meal, which was so amazing that we almost got no pictures at all.
in-born pork roast, slow cooked on charcoal grill
chocolate strawberry cream cake
Being new to the United States and the neighborhood, we tried to do all the holiday things. There was the obligatory photo with Santa…
Ho ho ho!
…and the neighbors all got a little something from their favorite newcomers.
strawberry meringue
We were hoping to get a bit of snowboarding in over these holiday weeks, but record snowfalls in Tahoe have closed roads due to excessive snow, downed trees, and downed power lines – “avoid Sierra travel” is the phrase the authorities are using. At least the lake level is rising daily and there are months of ski season remaining.
Hopefully not a tradition, but we also spent part of Christmas night in the emergency room. Everybody will be fine, but things may have been a bit too hectic during this holiday season – we will probably be home and in bed when 2022 arrives.
Have a safe and joyous new year!
I’ve been largely offline these past weeks and will remain so for another two or three. Here are a few of the more popular posts of 2021 and a few classics to keep everyone entertained until 2022. Requests for new content warmly welcomed.
Most popular posts of 2021
American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 – a nice piece of legislation
Asset Allocation 2021 – how we are invested
Scared to Death of Early Retirement No More – nothing to fear
Millionaires Don’t Buy New Cars – or do they
Playing with House Money – the illogic of buying a house
GCC classics
Never Pay Taxes Again – it’s easy
Great Roth Controversy – to Roth or not to Roth
Renters for Life – still seems like a good idea
Path to 100% Equities – the bull case for equity investing
GCC vs The RMD – lifetime tax minimization
Highly trafficked content
Federal Income Tax Calculator – calculates your Roth conversions and capital gain harvests
Archives – all the posts!
Frequently Asked Questions – ask away
To whet the appetite
Award Travel Series: Getting to Hawaii for Free with Ultimate Rewards – fun in the sun
Award Travel Series: Flying to Europe for Free with Ultimate Rewards – culture awaits
We wish you all a warm and joyous holiday season and a happy new year. Thank you for reading, sharing, and telling all of your friends! ;)
Jeremy, Winnie, Julian, & Jaiden
Go Curry Cracker!
Hi Jeremy,
Happy Holidays to you, Winnie and the kids. Glad to see that you managed to settle well back in California and are ripping already some of the benefits of being close to family! This must have been a wild ride with the mini COVID19 outbreak that affected Taiwan before you left.
After escaping Taiwan at the cusp of this soft lockdown, we are now back in Taiwan and are glad we made it back before the Omicron situation. Happy to still be safe here and wish you to remain safe as this new big chapter of your life starts.
Any plans to return to Taiwan to visit friends you have here?
Mr. Nomad Numbers
No plans to visit anytime soon, maybe 2023
Here’s to an Amazing 2022.
Go Curry Cracker!!!
Yessir, go go go
Your family pic reminds me of a lot of mine in which my youngest is looking somewhere else. And, the Santa photo, I have some of those too. :)
Happy holidays!
Our little guy is really skeptical of anybody taller than his big brother, but with Santa he actually seemed curious. Until I put him on his lap, then it was sheer terror
Happy Holidays and best wishes for 2022, Jeremy. Nice to watch the kids grow up and enjoy Christmas!
Thanks Justin – growing up fast, next thing I know they will be in college (just a few years behind you on that one)
Happy Holidays 🎉.
Looking forward to the 2021 spending post.
Also – I suggest you consider forming an S-Corp now that you are back in the US. It works well for me to minimize taxes.
2021 spending spoiler alert: ~$1kk
S-corp won’t really help us much. Could even cost us more.
Nice man…and it looks like your first year in Sacramento might not be a drought year! (fingers crossed)
Looks promising!
Happy Holidays! Glad you were able to spend time with family.
Looking forward to a post or two around inflation and any adjustments you would make since it seems like it will continue to rise for some time, at least higher than the often quoted 3% average.
Would also like to see any follow-ups to the “Your 401k May Be Too Big”. You had mentioned at the end of part 2 that
“This post is the 2nd in a series. Subsequent posts forthcoming… soon.” Maybe these took place and I just missed them because they didn’t have the same title.
Cheers and wish you the best in 2022.
Maybe this is the year I finish that series… sorry for the wait.
3%, 4%, 5%, whatever inflation is, just raise spending by that amount. There was some terrible inflation in the 1960s, I talked about it a bit in the post The Worst Retirement Ever
Thanks Jeremy, appreciate all the your great content.
Thought of another potential topic. Since Roth IRA seems to be a target for congress in recent years, if they monkey with it enough to where it becomes unattractive, I doubt this will happen, I would be interested to see some retirement math around using the 72(t)/SEPP as an alternative to accessing tax-deferred money to sidestep the 10% penalty. I know there are 3 different types of life expectancy methods. Would like to know who, or when, going this route would make sense as a sort of plan B.
I can do something on SEPP, sure.
It’s a pretty straightforward decision for somebody age 54.5+. For much younger people it it a long-term commitment maybe best avoided… things change.
any thoughts around being back in the US and expenses vs income? Wondering if the US expenses (excl. the home purchase) are more than Taiwan.
Would be keen to hear your thinking around blog+investment portfolio income for expenses, considering the US healthcare, or schooling costs or any other expenses that arise?
Good to see you enjoying the holiday season =)
US expenses are going to end up lower than Taiwan, but the lifestyle is very different.
I have a post coming on our budget / cost of living.